


Now We're Even

by markwatneyandensemble



Category: The X-Files
Genre: But It Is :), Do They Know It's Requited? No, F/M, First Dates, Fluff, Requited Love, X-Files Secret Santa Fanfic Exchange, X-Files Secret Santa Fanfic Exchange (2020)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:47:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28185630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/markwatneyandensemble/pseuds/markwatneyandensemble
Summary: Mulder takes Scully out on what he thinks is a date that he planned out and put all this effort into but she thinks they're just hanging out as friends.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 5
Kudos: 87
Collections: X-Files Secret Santa Fanfic Exchange (2020)





	Now We're Even

**Author's Note:**

  * For [payback16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/payback16/gifts).



> Prompt: Mulder takes Sculy out on what he thinks is a date that he planned out and put all this effort into but she thinks they're just hanging out as friends. When they realize they had different expectations it's awkard, but cute and becomes the real date Mulder was hoping for.   
> s5-s7  
> no smut but a kiss
> 
> \--   
> I loved this prompt, and I hope y'all like it, and have a happy holiday season!!!

He’d waited till the last minute to ask her. 

It was his thing. Taking something simple like a ten word question and torturing himself for weeks. 

_“Hey Scully, do you want to go get dinner tonight?”_

That’s all it would take. It had been weeks of planning, including one day he’d obsessively researched napkin fabric at the restaurant to make sure it didn’t contain any of Scully’s three known allergens, rather than just do the simple task of asking. Now, all that planning would go down the drain. The reservation would be missed, it would be too last minute. He wondered if he even should bring it up.

The hours ticked by in their work day, and he knew that the longer he waited the harder it would be. 

Just after three pm, Scully got called up to Skinner’s office, and he had his shot. _Just ask, and if she says no, you can go home ’sick’ while she’s upstairs._

“Scully?” he asked, his voice shaking. 

“Mmm?” She didn’t even look up. 

He cringed, and wanted so badly to backtrack, but he tried to remind himself that this wasn’t going to be out of the blue. He’d practically confessed his love to her in the hospital. He’d kissed her cheek every time he saw her, in those days when he thought each time would be the last. He’d held her hand, he’d walked her up to bed, he’d picked her up in the snow and fog and rain, and every other weather he could think of. They were more married than most and dinner wasn’t a big ask. But it still felt like it was. 

“Mulder? What is it?” 

He shook himself out of his daze, and watched as Scully headed for the door. “Or we could just talk about it when I could get back."

“No! Uh… would you… want to have dinner with me tonight?” 

On a scale from lighting his tie on fire to jumping into his arms taking him now, her reaction should have soothed his nerves. She smiled and shrugged. “Sure. Pick me up whenever.” 

He grinned and watched her leave, before crumbling into the desk chair and taking three deep breaths. 

* * *

He arrived at seven, nervously walked to the stoop, then back to the meter, then back to the stoop, and back to the meter like a long jumper taking their steps. After three tries, he made it up to her door, and knocked, wishing greatly he’d checked his mirror one more time for food in his teeth or a wrinkle in his suit. 

“Hey Mulder,” she said, opening the door with one hand, a lab report held open with the other. 

She stepped to the side, eyes still trained on the page, and let him in. 

“Interesting stuff?” he asked. 

“It’s for the Fowler investigation. The coroner reported high levels of red dye in the victim’s stomach contents, and they ran a match with the factory’s output from the day before…” she looked up, her voice drifting off, and gave him a small, surprised smile. “Look at you.”

She made a big show of looking him up and down. “New suit?” 

He shrugged. “This old thing? Had it for years.” 

She chuckled. “Mmhmm.” 

His breathing nearly stopped as she took a step far too close, and ran her fingers up the front of his jacket, and felt for the inside pocket. 

“Scu-lly?” he asked. He wasn’t going to say no to whatever this was, but it was three courses and a walk in the park too early. 

“He-hah!” she said, and pulled out a folded slip of paper. “Receipt. One tailoring job from two weeks ago.” 

He laughed and rolled his eyes. “Alright, you caught me.” 

“Of course I did,” she said, and turned around to toss the report on the couch and grab her coat. “You should know better than to hang out with another investigator.” 

_Hang out._ He tried to keep his panic to a minimum. _Was he not clear?_

“Ready?” she asked, pulling her coat on and grabbing her wallet and keys from the dish. 

He smiled. “Of course.”

“Good, I’m starving.” 

She grabbed the door handle before he could open it for her and headed for the elevator. _Hang out. It would be fine,_ he told himself. He’d take whatever time with her he could get.

* * *

Scully hadn’t known what to think when he’d asked her. It was such a random time for him to ask- right as she was about to go into a meeting. Either that was an indication that it was just something casual like they usually do, or it was an indication of Mulder being Mulder. Either way, she was trying to keep her hopes down. 

Sure, it had been six months since her recovery, and every morning when he’d greet her with some kind of loving gesture. Sure, it had been six months of him taking her to the doctor’s for check ups because she was too scared to go alone. But it also had been one month since that night in Florida when he’d made it clear he wasn’t interested her… alien orbs. 

The dinner got off to a rough start. For one, she was very underdressed. She’d expected some kind of bar like her last birthday with him, but this place had table cloths. And candles. Which meant they assumed that their clientele could be trusted around open flames. She’d expected Mulder to stick out like a sore thumb in a place like that, but one step inside, and he became the charming boy from Martha’s Vineyard again. 

He checked his coat, he had a reservation, he even pulled the chair out for her. He knew what wines paired with what, he asked how the cut of steak was that night, and pronounced each fancy French word like he’d been tutored for years. 

“What’s that look?” he asked, grinning, after the waiter took their menus. 

“You know about wine pairings?” she asked, looking around stunned like he was pulling off a con. “Mulder, the last time you bought wine it was from a gas station, that you drove out of your way to get to, because they had ‘cheaper stuff’.” 

He chuckled, in that way only fancy people could. “I just like to change things up sometimes.” 

She slowly nodded, and adjusted her hoodie she was pretty sure she stole from him. And she was pretty sure this new, fancy Mulder wouldn’t recognize it. 

“So…” she said, trying, for the first time in their friendship, to think of a conversation topic. “Would you rather have tiny wings on your buttcheeks that don’t do anything, or have your dick get half an inch shorter every time someone thought about having sex with you?” 

He nearly spit out his wine, and other people around them looked up at the commotion. 

She grinned, and swirled hers around in her glass like a boss in a mob movie. 

“Uhh,” he said, looking around almost… _god, was he embarrassed?_ “I guess… the shorting thing. Or something.” 

She felt the taste of bile creep up her throat. What the hell was this? 

“So, I just heard from a few agents up in the VCU that there’s an opening on the Lowell case. It’s a high profile guy, and I was thinking that if we could get onto it, we could have another connection if we need to meet with someone in the State Department.” 

He was talking business. He asked her to dinner, to talk about some boring gossip from the break room? Did he have a gift certificate for two meals and run out of people to ask?

“Scully? You alright?” 

The waiter came with two bowls of soup, the china alone looked like it cost more than she made in a week. This was too much. Either Mulder had been replaced with a shapeshifter, or he was definitely, resoundingly, putting her in her place as a “buddy” after that Florida incident. You don’t just invite someone to eat in a palace and then talk about work. Not if you want something more. She shut her eyes, just as Mulder started to go on about how it was a lovely bisque, and how it reminded him of one he had in college when he’d taken the train down to France, and she just shook her head, and pushed back her chair, it scraping horribly on the floor and making every shiny silver fork in the restaurant stop midair. 

“Dana?” he asked. 

“I…uh, I have to go. I’m sorry.” 

She picked the chair up awkwardly, trying to avoid scratching it again, but it was just becoming too entertaining for her audience, and she turned around and hurried out. 

* * *

Mulder didn’t even pay. Scully’d run out of there so fast, all social rules went out the window. He followed her, jostling the table as he got up and sending soup over the edge and onto the pristine table cloth. _God, he was an idiot. She’d wanted to ‘hang out’, and instead of bailing and taking her to a burger place, he’d followed through and scared her off._

She didn’t slow down for two blocks, and from the distance, he could see her stumble, then drop to a park bench, and put her head in her hands. 

He half wondered if he should go over there, or just get in his car and drive till no one knew him. But what was one mistake after a whole series? He slowly approached, her and sat down next to her without her looking up. 

“Scully,” he said, after a moment. “I’m so sorry.” 

She shook her head. “It’s fine. You made it extremely clear… I’m sorry you had to go to all that trouble.” 

“I hope I didn’t make things weird for us.” 

“No, no. I’m fine. Mission accomplished. I just hope you don’t feel any differently about me, and we can just go back to before.” 

Now, he was starting to get confused. 

“I mean… I’m going to try to deal with my feelings myself,” he said slowly. “But you don’t have to worry about it or anything. I won’t mention this again.” 

“Deal with…? I was talking about just sticking to being friends.” She turned her head and looked back at him. 

“Yeah. We’ll just be friends, and I’ll get back to a point where that’s enough for me, I swear.”

She furrowed her eyebrows, and looked at the street for a while, before looking back at him. “So… you had feelings that were more? Y’know, then friends?” 

He felt his face get hot. “Yeah, but again, don’t worry about it. Message received.“ 

“So, this was a- a date?” 

He dropped his face to his knees and groaned. “Yeah. Look. It’s fine… we don’t have to talk more, I just want things to be okay between us.” 

He heard, saw, felt nothing for a lifetime, and then, in an instant, she was dragging his head up and to the side, and her lips were on his, and her hands were cupping his chin, and they were cold, so cold, he might’ve shivered if he didn’t all of a sudden feel very, very hot. He grabbed something- he thought it was her waist, but he could barely- to ground himself, and pull her closer. 

When they broke apart, she was smiling, and her face was so close to his he could see her nose and cheeks had turned pink from the cold night. 

“Scully-“ he breathed. 

“I thought… I thought you didn’t like me or something,” she said. “That’s why I left before.” 

“What?!” 

“After Florida, I just kind of thought you didn’t feel the same.” 

“Florida?” 

She smiled. “Yeah. Motel room, 9pm. I came in with some wine and cheese?” 

He pulled back a second, thinking back to that night. “That was you… trying to… ?” 

She giggled a little, and bit her lip. “Yeah.” 

“I had no idea.” 

“Well, I had no idea that this was a date, so I guess we’re even.” 

He smiled, and leaned down to kiss her again. 

“Think we’ll ever get better at showing how we feel?” she asked when they pulled away. 

“Oh sure. When we get to the retirement home, it’ll all be crystal clear.” He froze as he said it, realizing he’d just insinuated they’d be together in retirement, but she just laughed and leaned against him. 

“I’ll hold you to that,” she said. 

“Good.” 

He stood up, unable to take the frigid weather any more. “How about this for clear: You want to go get some real dinner on a real date?” 

“Good start. And yes.” 

He pulled her up off the bench, and didn’t let go of her hand as they walked back to his car. 

“By the way,” he said, backing her up against the door and leaning down as seductively as he could to whisper in her ear. He felt her shiver underneath his fingertips, and her warm breath on his neck. “I’d rather have the butt wings.” 

She shoved him away, feeling cheated. “Stop it.” 

“C’mon. You just admitted to me you wanted to have sex like a month ago, and who knows how many half inches I could be losing?” 

She rolled her eyes, and tried to wiggle out of his arms, and walk to the passenger side of the car. 

“I’d be doing this for you, Scully. It’s romantic.” 

“Just let me in, it’s freezing.” 

He patted his pants pockets, and his eyes widened. “Crap.” 

“What?”

“My jacket. I left it at the restaurant and I didn’t pay. It had my keys in it.” 

She sighed, and held out her hand. “Let’s go, I got your back.” 

“But what if they’re mad?” he asked, and she pulled him along the side walk, into the night. 


End file.
